Not too long after he took office in January, a female constituent told Gov. Mike Leavitt that he looked too young to be the state's top elected official.
But before he had a chance to feel flattered, another woman standing nearby spoke up. "Don't worry," she said. "He'll age 10 years during his first year in office."With just a few weeks to go before marking his first anniversary as governor, Leavitt is working hard not to live up to her prediction even though his job keeps getting tougher.
He described what he's doing to stay healthy in an interview given during one of his "power walks" through City Creek Canyon - on the day before fire swept through the Governor's Mansion.
The fire late Wednesday morning severely damaged or destroyed many of the 92-year-old buildings historic treasures as well as the Leavitts' personal possessions.
Leavitt's response to the fire was to postpone a major address on the state budget to a joint session of the Utah House and Senate only for a few hours so he could be with his family.
Both the governor and his wife, Jacalyn, who was home with their 3-year-old son, Westin, at the time of the fire, appear to be holding up remarkably well despite the loss of their home.
For the governor, the experience has no doubt been a test of the care he's taken to preserve his health by exercising, eating right and trying not to let stress get the best of him.
"This job has given me a better appreciation of the effect of stress on people's lives," Leavitt said. "The difference with this job is that it's relentless."
By relentless, the governor said he meant it is difficult to separate himself from the job. Ironically, he said, living at the mansion initially added to that difficulty because the building was a "symbol of the job."
"I went home to being the governor instead of going home to be Mike Leavitt," he said. The long hours he puts in at the Capitol and at official functions mean there's little time to unwind at the end of the day.
The governor said little evening rituals such as trading his work-day suit for more comfortable clothes, putting his youngest children to bed and having a quiet meal with Jacalyn helped make him feel more at home in the mansion.
Still, he wasn't able to make time to exercise at the end of the day. So he finally asked his staff to schedule at least 40 minutes midday for brisk walks through the Avenues and City Creek Canyon.
Dressed in a jogging suit and trailed by a security guard, the governor often ends up holding meetings with staff and anyone else willing to move fast enough to keep up with the pace he sets on what he calls "power walks."
A former runner who competed in marathons and other races, Leavitt said he switched to walking a while back because he just doesn't like running well enough to do it on a regular basis.
"I enjoy walking. It clears my head," he said as he swiftly made his way through the canyon. "This routine arose out of a frustration of not being able to find any time at all to myself."
Taking a break from a schedule that typically accounts for every 15 minutes of his time from early in the morning to well after 5 p.m. is good for him, Leavitt said. "It's the highest quality time I get."
Besides exercise, the governor has also tried to keep an eye on what he eats, especially since so many of his official appearances are at functions where food is served.
"A lot of meals are placed in front of me," he said. To keep the calories in check, sometimes he just has a bowl of soup or arranges to come late to a luncheon or dinner, after everyone else has eaten.
Such steps have helped Leavitt maintain his health. They have also, he believes, helped him control - despite the additional stress he faces as governor - a longtime tendency to develop migraine headaches.
Leavitt said he's had migraines since he was 14 years old, sometimes as frequently as once every two months and always at least two a year. Since becoming governor, he said he's had four or five migraines.
"There's nothing predictable about them. I've never been able to figure out what brings them on," he said. Some are so intensely painful there's nothing he can do but lie quietly in the dark. Some just make him nauseated.
The migraines he's had while governor have forced Leavitt to cancel a speech or otherwise rearrange his schedule. The one day he stayed home sick this year was due to a migraine.
"Everybody gets something like this - something that gives them a full appreciation for feeling good," he said of the migraines.
Even with the additional pressures his first elected office has brought, the governor said he really likes his job. "While there are demands, the irony is the hardest part is what I like the best."